Thermarest or foam...

[bushblade]

I had a lay down on the expedition one and it was fairly uncomfortable... maybe I just have a heavy rear end but it hit the deck through the mat when I was laying down.

I may have a look at the larger one they recommend for car camping and just be a man about lugging it about :roll:

If any part of you body is touching the ground through the mat then you just need a bit more air pressure in it.
It doesn't realy matter what the users weight is any thermarest can be fine tuned for comfort.
The way to do this is over inflate the mat by blowing into it, then lay down on it. The mat will feel very firm and not very comfortable, while still laying on it let a bit of air out at a time. With any thermarest the maximum level comfort to be had will be at a point when you sink into the mat as much as you can without touching the floor. If you do touch the floor, just let a little more air back in. This will only work when you are laying on it, if you just sit on it of course you'll touch the ground beneath.
What shop did you go to? the shop staff should realy have known this.
It does not make a difference what your weight is, you could use a pro lite no problem. And to be honest, unless you're sleeping on concrete, there is not a great deal of comfort to be gained from the thicker thermarests over the lightweight ones, as long as you know what you're doing. So I say keep your pack light and go for the Pro lite.
I hope that was of use to you.

 

[Squidders]

I did blow it up... I just wasn't impressed.

 

[george]

Been using them since 1991 -wouldn't use anything else.

George

 

[Great Pebble]

This is one of those "been done before" threads, but for the record I don't like Thermarests at all. Nothing intrinsically wrong with them, but IMO have no advantages over a foam mat at all and a few disadvantages, principle of which is being overly complicated for the job that needs doing.

 

[Hoodoo]

I've had a Thermarest since around 1977. Still have the first one I ever bought and never had a problem with it. I wouldn't trade it for anything. But I did buy a 3/4 luxury edition and it's super. I use it with a very thin piece of closed cell foam padding that I slip under my feet. This doubles as my camp chair.

During the winter, I sleep with a closed cell foam on the bottom and a thermarest on top. You get great insulation and a comfy bed for the night.

 

[faca]

Hi I want to show you my last purchase that should have been the first.
http://www.backpacker.com/gear/article/0,1023,7050,00.html
I have tried closecells mat=no confort at all my waist bone dig in the ground when side sleeping.
I have tried self inflating mat=confortable if you use the thicker models but them to voluminous.
I have tried airpad= confortable but cold becouse only air into them.
And my new Agnes=WOANDERFULL!!!!!
I can sleep as confortable as in my LATEX bed.
You can inflate it with 23 breaths and get a touch confortable mat that is warm too, you can go to one edge of the pad and mat keeps its shape and confort and when you take out the air you can roll it in a very tiny packet becouse any material into, the inner core of primaloft seems no to be there.
Now I spent many night sleeping in my new pad instead that in my real bed.
Enjoy

 

[Hoodoo]

faca, thanks for the tip. It doesn't surprise me that it works well. Calvin Rutstrum did it for years by putting down in his air mattress.